I have discovered through my interractions with atheists in general that there is a question they dread and will do anything to avoid. i have severally posted this question and the atheists would rather ignor or trivialise it. The question is why are we here on earth? what is the purpose of our existence? I am still asking this same question now if any of them would dare to answer me lucidly and in simple tetms.

@op:
Big laugh. I doubt if you have had any real interactions with athiests. If you did, you would understand that athiests do not claim any special knowledge of anything. I really dont know why you need an athiest to explain to you why you are on earth.
There are many different religious and philosophical propositions for you to consider. Take a beginners course in philosophy. Since Atheism is not a homogenous body, there are no dogmatic beliefs to cling to and hence, athiests are spread among a wide spectrum of philosophical disciplines. Some will say that the purpose of life is to enjoy, some will say the purpose of life is to suffer penance, some will say that the purpose of life is to learn and advance, and some will say that life is too choatic to make any sense out of it.
I hope you do not have the erronous belief, like many others, that athiesm is a new kind of competing religon. An athiest doesn't really owe you any explanation to validate himself and his nagging curiosity as to the wherabouts of the big papa in the sky.

@Op:
Since you are presumed not to be an athiests, and from the tone of your question, are presume to know better, perhaps you can kindly enlighten us about what you think is the purpose of life. We may all learn something from you.

@op
Must there be a reason as to why we are on earth , if there is a reason I doubt very much it is to fulfill our destinies as ordained by your god ( whichever you believe in ). If we are to go by your reasoning , I hope you know there are thousands of beliefs and adherents who follow such beliefs , so what makes yours the right one.

@plaeton: i do not claim to know any better than anybody,i have simply asked a question from a specified group of people and who being one of them have responded according to type. my question to you is :why are you in the word? what is the purpose of your existence? thats all am asking!

@apocalypse: i am not claiming that mine is the right one! you people are all the same. i asked a simple question and you are suddenly suspecious and evasive. you have only confirmed my thoughts.

folaski:

@plaeton: i do not claim to know any better than anybody,i have simply asked a question from a specified group of people and who being one of them have responded according to type. my question to you is :why are you in the word? what is the purpose of your existence? thats all am asking!

By asking that question of athiests, you are pre-supposing that athiests are one homogenous group or sect that share one common philosophical viewpoint. I am saying, that is not so. You can ask that from an individual athiest, but his answers may not reflect the viewpoints of other athiests.
The quest to understand the meaning of life is an ongoing quest for everyone. Athiests, simply by their lack of belief in any diety, do not propose a general dogmatic theory to explain the meaning and purpose of life.
Now, if you, on the other hand, propose that the purpose of life is to worship your god, then I would have to disagree you with many arguments.

Personally, I think there are probably many dimensions of existence just as there are many planets in our solar system. Therefore life on earth may just be one of many stops along the journey of infinite existence. Ofcourse , I could be totally wrong. there many athiest who would disagree with me on that notion.

@ folaski
Let me humour you.
There is no sole purpose for our existence other than which we set for ourselves. If your purpose is to attain knowledge then so be it , there is no universal answer to your question and every individual has his/her own purpose as dictated by him/herself

@ folaski
Let me humour you.
There is no sole purpose for our existence other than which we set for ourselves. If your purpose is to attain knowledge then so be it , there is no universal answer to your question and every individual has his/her own purpose as dictated by him/herself

Man is the master of his destiny. For thousands of years, human looked to the sky to find meaning and to cope with their environments. the moment we stopped looking to the sky for answers and began to exercise our mental faculties, we beagn to understand and tame our environments to suit our needs and desires. We have built trains, cars , planes and rocketships and invented communications devices to shrink our world to managable pieces.
The future promises more advancements and understandings.

so that means that here just to live,achive my personal goal and die. then it does not worth it. it also means that the end justifies whatever means i adopt to live and achive my goal since there is no retrebutions. wao like seams meaningless, so meaninless.

folaski:

I have discovered through my interractions with atheists in general that there is a question they dread and will do anything to avoid. i have severally posted this question and the atheists would rather ignor or trivialise it. The question is why are we here on earth? what is the purpose of our existence? I am still asking this same question now if any of them would dare to answer me lucidly and in simple tetms.

What do you mean by purpose here? Do you mean what one is supposed to do? Or what is supposed to be done to someone or what is supposed to happen to someone or what exactly? And who are you referring to as "our"? Do you mean all humans, your fellow Christians or what?

folaski:

so that means that here just to live,achive my personal goal and die. then it does not worth it. it also means that the end justifies whatever means i adopt to live and achive my goal since there is no retrebutions. wao like seams meaningless, so meaninless.

Alright I'm straining my brain power to understand your logic here , are you saying achieving ones personal goals in life isn't worth the effort ? So what is worth the effort ?

folaski:

so that means that here just to live,achive my personal goal and die. then it does not worth it. it also means that the end justifies whatever means i adopt to live and achive my goal since there is no retrebutions. wao like seams meaningless, so meaninless.

Since we are all interconected, your personal goals also affect the people around, your community, your nation, and to some extent, the world. By persuing your goals and trying to perfect yourself, all of humanity evolves.
Sure, there are retributions. If you are found guilty of commiting a crime, you go to jail. If you leave a bad legacy, your children or your community suffer for it. The founding fathers of America laid the foudation for what is now the most powerful nation on earth. The founding fathers of Nigeria laid the foundations for what is now, an almost failed state.
If we see our life here as meaningless, how would we ever consider ouselves worthy of a greater paradise, heaven or whatever we believe that follows?

@OP while you make it painfully obvious that you are spoiling for a fight, (What Atheists can't handle) you also sully your perceived wisdom in philosophical matters by asking the Age-old question that has only been conclusively answered by a group of Theists (Popularly known as Christians). here is my answer (non-atheist position though)

Question 1: Why are we here on earth
(A): The Earth is proven to be habitable and capable of sustaining a plethora of life-forms apart from humans, it is only natural that we have survived - try living on Planet Mercury Or,
(B): We are some Guru-biologist's experiment and his petri-dish is Earth. The first experiment went bad and had to be destroyed, i doubt he is having any success with this one from the look of things Or,
(C): There is no reason save the fact the we are only aware of our existence this part of this galaxy out of millions of similar galaxies capable of sustaining Earth-like Planets and possibly humanoid Life-forms. We could be part of one infinitesimally wide intelligent amoeba-like life-form and we are simply biological organisms

What is our purpose
(A): Somewhere in the inter-galactic Food-Chain we are somebody's biatch! (forgive my french) - our lofty goals for Spiritual perfection and ultimately, oneness with the Creator is manifested in the purity of our souls - (Food for the Gods) impure souls (Rotten Food) will be caste in Hell (naturally) Or,

^^^ see what am saying? You for one is more confused. What have you said now? Nothing! You cant handle it.

@thehoma: by purpose i mean the reason why all things exists especially human beings.

folaski:

^^^ see what am saying? You for one is more confused. What have you said now? Nothing! You cant handle it.

only poking polite fun at you - this topic has been thrashed endlessly on NL - do a search , it should help you get somewhere

folaski:

@thehoma: by purpose i mean the reason why all things exists especially human beings.

These are two very different questions that require responses of different scopes.
To the first question, who says that there must be a state of nothingness?
To the second question, humans exist due to the ability their ancestors had of surviving in the world they encountered.

please let me make myself a little clearer, all believers in almost all religions of the world have made several and sometimes definit claims about life and its purpose. if theists are so sure what are atheists saying or should one just accept the theists claim and close the case ? i think a balanced view of both sides will help better or so i think .

folaski:

please let me make myself a little clearer, all believers in almost all religions of the world have made several and sometimes definit claims about life and its purpose. if theists are so sure what are atheists saying or should one just accept the theists claim and close the case ? i think a balanced view of both sides will help better or so i think .

How can there be a balanced view when there isn't one when we look at the various and sometimes conflicting ideas that theists have on the issue of life and its purpose?

folaski:

please let me make myself a little clearer, (1) all believers in almost all religions of the world have made several and sometimes definite claims about (2)life [/b]and its [b](3)purpose. if theists are so sure what are atheists saying or should one just accept the theists claim and close the case ? (4)i think a balanced view of both sides will help better or so i think .

@Folaski.
Our first encounter stopped short of sparking a fuse   my bad, may i make another attempt? before I do so allow us to agree on the Clarity of your position above. (tagged 1,2,3,4)
1: Every Spiritual exercise (Religion) make claims to have the "Answers" to the Meaning of Life [/b]and [b]Man's Purpose in this World - Some proven from centuries of evolving experience (social, spiritual and philosophical) but most remain FAITH-proven i.e you have to be a devout believer in the religion to lay all your convictions behind your religion's claims to the themes you have presented on this thread i.e Life and Purpose
2/3: Life/Purpose: by this i want to assume that your are referring loosely to "Meaning of Life" i.e Why we exist and of what significance and our "Purpose" what is our ultimate goal in Life (or Death).
4: A Balanced-view from a Theistic and Atheistic position is hardly achievable (as evidenced by centuries of Rofo-Rofo fight between both groups),  more-so when no central; agreeable point of reference exists in the first place to allow for a balanced-view (when you look at a weighting scale, there is a center that determines what tilts to Up, Down or Level). here we have none - not that it does not exist, one group chooses to define the Meaning of Life around Divine beings thus the purpose of their lives (everyone's lives it seems) revolves round the injunctions of the gods and holy books from centuries ago. (needless to say) Unlike the Atheistic approach based on the evolving nature of society, knowledge and evidential and deductive reasoning, theistic positions (while similarly introspective) cannot detach from the position of ancient supernatural structures that do not change with Time,Knowledge or Experience. To quote loosely a phrase popular with Christians - "God is the same Today, Tomorrow and Forever".

Can we agree on the above?

Here we go again. . .Been out for a while and it's still the same BS day in-day out. Can't you folks come up with something worth reading?

harakiri:

Here we go again. . .Been out for a while and it's still the same BS day in-day out. Can't you folks come up with something worth reading?

Go hang yourself. You are no better.

@ folaski >>> Not everyone bothers about the meaning of existence the way you do. I believe some (or most0 atheists believe in making their own purpose. The contradiction (in that belief) is there but I don't bug over it the way you are doing.

Am not but I dont know how they cope. They will have been staring at the sky for more answers on their lives, personally. all i know is God dey and hIM alone is meant to be worship , that is God jehovah. I believe in the holy trinity also. Just learn to read his word and you are ready to go. God bless Nigeria.

@op
What's d purpose of goats on earth? If u say its to serve as meat to humans, then ur purpose is also to serve as meat to LIONS.

@post
I already told you in your thread about apes that your primary purpose in life is to survive because as long as you continue to survive you'll continue to live therefore have a life. The day you stop surviving is the day you cease to live. Meaning you'll no longer have a life. Your secondary purpose  in life is to pass your genes on to your next generation so that the cycle of life will continue. Life itself is a cycle think about it.

@post
I already told you in your thread about apes that your primary purpose in life is to survive because as long as you continue to survive you'll continue to live therefore have a life. The day you stop surviving is the day you cease to live. Meaning you'll no longer have a life. Your secondary purpose in life is to pass your genes on to your next generation so that the cycle of life will continue. Life itself is a cycle think about it.

Yes you are right.

Somebody is behind that cycle.
A force is behind it.
A program is executing to keep it cycling, if not let oxygen sieze to exist. You will know that there are forces behind this cycles.

Have you heard about Eistein machine, that discovered electromagnetic waves ? It can also discover ghost.
Those are the fact those scientist wont let the world know.

But thank God for Isaac Newton who confessed before he died.

Google, Check BBC

Uyi Iredia:

Go hang yourself. You are no better.

@ folaski >>> Not everyone bothers about the meaning of existence the way you do. I believe some (or most0 atheists believe in making their own purpose. The contradiction (in that belief) is there but I don't bug over it the way you are doing.

Er. . .Was that really necessary? Is that how the Jesus in your bible converted followers? Are you a Christian? If you are. . .is this the sort of language a "Christian" is supposed to apply?

How typical. No point bantering words with you Kiddo. By the ways, are you still kneeling down in the hot sun at that university of yours? Er. . .what's the name again. . .er, er, er. . .yeah! Covenant University. Are you out of there or being flogged 300 strokes on the cane "IN A UNIVERSITY" for not tucking in your shirt?

Putz! ! !

So i should eat, drink , make money,marry , pass on my genes and die.